What can you do with a Saturation list?

Recently our team here at Tri Auto has been partnering with more and more ad agencies.  We offer a behind the scenes service providing all sorts of direct marketing - to make their lives easier and to share our expertise in automotive direct mail.  For many, saturation direct mail is something they don't have a lot of experience with and it helps to have a team behind them that has specialized in it for years.

That being said, I have had the same question twice in the past few days - "Don't you have to hit an entire zip code to use a saturation list?"

The short answer is-no.  In fact you can even target your mail within a zip code using actual demographic info.  So what's the deal?

• Each zip code is broken down into carrier routes.  It's just how it sounds, carriers = your mailman.  So imagine your mailman delivers to your neighborhood, the one down the road and two across the way.  That group of neighborhoods becomes a "carrier route."  It could be 50 homes or over 500, just depends on the market.
• To get the "saturation" discount you only have to hit whole carrier routes.  Some companies are set up better than others to handle this type of list selection.
• So what carrier routes do you choose?  This is where the demographics come in to play.  For each route we can show you the average home value, income and age for the area.  After a quick consultation with you on the market in question we can select the areas for you or you are welcome to do it yourself.

It's as easy as that.  So let's say there are 8,000 people in a zip code but you only want to do 5,000 mailers - no problem!  It is also easy to split those 5,000 mailers over three different zip codes as you like.

The main point of this post is to just let everyone know that saturation lists are becoming more and more effective and easy to use.  Katy Peat is the zip code diva on our team - she not only consults on what areas to mail to but can also share tips on avoiding certain pitfalls and using Marketvision data to help increase response on your future sales using the zip info from past ones.  If you have more questions feel free to email Katy today.

Mailing to Credit Score Lists

The credit score list had become a relic around here until about a month ago. As lenders begin to (slightly) loosen up so does the subprime market. However, credit score lists don't have to be the only way to target these people, here are a few other ideas.

Credit Score Lists

Expense: $$$

Pros: targeting specific scores, weeding out too low scores, ability to make a firm offer of credit on the mailer

Cons: expense, reliability of data (lists are always 2-4 wks old by the time mail hits the home), disclaimer hell-legal fine print required with this list can sometimes take up half the mailer

Income Lists

Expense: $$

Pros: ability to target income ranges for credit purposes, more mail for your dollar, fewer legal hoops with disclaimers and piece restrictions

Cons: data is self reported so is not always highly reliable

Saturation List with Average Income

Expense: $

Pros: very inexpensive/a lot more mail for your money, the typical mail responder is in the credit bracket most dealers would target, you could get in the occasional prime customer as well,

can still address most customers by name (instead of "current resident"), no legal restrictions or disclaimers regarding the list needed

Cons: income information is an average by neighborhood (could be large variances)

In most cases I recommend sticking with the targeted saturation lists. The difference in price can be staggering and the traffic that comes in can be "filtered" by the content of the mailer. That being said, list selection is very unique to each campaign, dealership & market. Please discuss what's best for your specific mailer with your mail specialists (...and yes, the Diva is accepting new clients).

Happy Friday!

Database List Management

I was referred to Dan Kennedy's website by a client yesterday (thanks Steve!). I checked it out and was very intrigued. He has some really great info in an easy to read format. Definitely one to bookmark. One of his articles: http://www.dankennedy.com/index.php/articles/id/141 talks about really taking a good look at the list of who you are sending to before just shooting 50,000 pieces of mail out to them. In previous posts we've talked about segmenting saturation lists into carrier routes for extra detail and some demographic information. The ideas in this article can also carry into your database mailers. If you aren't hitting your database with a special event 4 times a year you are missing the boat. Seriously. Yes your sales guys should definitely drop personal notes to their customers on a somewhat regular basis, but the dealership as a whole should also be taking advantage of the very best list at your disposal. After all these people know you, know where you are located, and have bought something from you before--even if it's service related! Dan mentions a list he saw that was filled with duplicates and incorrect information.

With 30% of the population on the move at any one time, and the ways info is typically entered about 25%-35% of your database is complete GARBAGE.

If you are sending a mailer to it, it is essential to have it "scrubbed." Database scrubbing is a process your mail house should be able to perform. We essentially access your ADP, Reynolds & Reynolds, or whatever system you use to make a copy of your database. It is then run through National Change of Address, and scanned for duplicates. You'd be shocked how many times John Smith might show up as J. Smith, Jon Smith, & Jane Smith (John's wife)! You don't need to be paying for 4 mailers to go to the same freaking guy. The other thing to note is, this process is done on a copy of your database. That means if you did a mailer with someone three months ago the database you still have is not clean. Be sure to either use the same company and request that they use the list from last sale, or have it scrubbed again. Ideally have it scrubbed every 3 months (if it's being used as a mailing list). So check out Dan's site, think back to the last time you sent a mailer out to your database, and plan your next one accordingly.